Customized Vibration Generator for State of Health Monitoring of Prosthetic Implants and Pseudo-Bionic Machine–Human Feedbacks

Abstract

Modern industrial, household and other equipment include sophisticated power mechanisms and complicated control solutions that require tighter human–machine–human interactions to form the structures known as cyber–physical–human systems. Their significant parts are human–machine command links and machine–human feedbacks. Such systems are found in medicine, e.g., in orthopedics, where they are important for the operation and functional abilities of orthopedic devices—wheelchair, prosthesis, rehabilitation units, etc. The mentioned feedbacks may be implemented based on the haptic perceptions that requires vibration actuators. In orthopedics, such actuators can be used also for diagnostic purposes. This research brings forward the idea of the use of 3D printing in conjunction with high quality permanent magnets. This allows for the achievement of better efficiency, smaller size, and the developing of actuators individually for particular circumstances. The obtained simulation, experimental data, and data about 3D manufacturing generally confirm the above hypothesis. In particular, the stiffness coefficient of the actuator’s membrane and attached mass, which can be changed easily during 3D printing, affects the frequency of maximal power output. Secondly, the 3D manufacturing process is quick, tunable and rather cheap. Finally, an elaboration of the design of the actuator that allows for the real-time modification of stiffness and mass in a program way is planned for future works.

Vibration transmission in bone-anchored prosthesis under vertical load. Cadaver study

“…The highest amplitudes of natural vibrations are in frequency ranges up to 100 Hz. This allows use for haptic feedback of the best frequency range 3 (200–300 Hz) for direct vibrational excitation with minimum risk of artificially generated and natural oscillation overlays.…”

“…The threshold for such perception is a vibratory displacement of 1 mm. [1][2][3] The main feature of a bone-anchored prosthesis is the stable connection between prosthesis, implant, and bone. Compared with a traditional prosthesis, implants can be fixed with a higher range of stability, and the prosthesis is more comfortable to use because the skin of an amputated residuum is not loaded.…”

“…Classifications of such vibratory impacts have been investigated by Galkin and others. 3,10,11 Examples of haptic feedback have been reported in the literature. For example, vibration elements built into the insole of a patient's footwear send signals about increasing asymmetry of gait when walking.…”

Flexible electronics with dynamic interfaces for biomedical monitoring, stimulation, and characterization

“…Their conformal integration with the skin layers minimizes the external signal noises while their soft mechanics and encapsulation layers allow to accommodate large skin deformations during body motions without material and electronic components failure. In addition to monitoring, wearable garments that track and correct/guide motion via skin vibrations can aid in rehabilitation and training exercises based on the evaluation of the inertial data collected 32 . As the wearables have become ubiquitous in the field of health/fitness tracking, upgrading these platforms to feature monitoring capabilities to collect, analyze, identify clinical‐grade health trends, and provide motion feedback will help to improve the quality of care 33–35 …”

“…In addition to monitoring, wearable garments that track and correct/guide motion via skin vibrations can aid in rehabilitation and training exercises based on the evaluation of the inertial data collected. 32 As the wearables have become ubiquitous in the field of health/fitness tracking, upgrading these platforms to feature monitoring capabilities to collect, analyze, identify clinical-grade health trends, and provide motion feedback will help to improve the quality of care. [33][34][35] Biological tissue diagnostics and disease treatment/evolution are reflected, among other things, by changes in the tissue mechanical properties.…”